Future Tense News

May 10th, 2008

Hi Friends! I'm really excited to announce a truckload of good news. First off, I'm gonna be all braggy and tell you about my very own new book, Creamy Bullets, that is freshly released by the fine visionaries at Chiasmus Press. I'm doing some readings coming up and you can see the whole list here: Hello Ann Arbor, Chicago, and Los Angeles (and of course Portland)!

In the further adventures of Myriam Gurba, we are proud to announce that her book, Dahlia Season, won the Edmund White Award for debut fiction. Next up--we'll see how she fares at the LAMBDA Literary Awards!

Elizabeth Ellen is back with a new book, A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness, from Rose Metal Press. It's a collection featuring four of the most exciting authors working in the small press today. The other writers in this truly great book are Kathy Fish, Claudia Smith, and Amy L. Clark. Way to go, EE! Update (5/16): Three new ways to enjoy the awesomeness that is El-Ell: a new story, a wild new poem, and a kick-ass interview with Donald Ray Pollack, whose debut, Knockemstiff, is my favorite read of the year so far. Yep.

More news as it breaks in the near future. Thanks, everyone!

KS

March 18th, 2008

Hello dear friends, This Thursday from 5pm to 10pm at Powell's I'll be hosting a huge small press celebration called Smallpressapalooza.I handpicked all the readers so you know it's gonna be a solid night of entertainment. I tried to pick people who hadn't read at the main store before including poets, zinesters, and fiction writers. Since it's a pretty long event (see the schedule for readers on that link) I don't really expect people to stay for the whole thing but I do hope you (Portland friends!) come down to see part of it at least. In other news, I've been really proud of Myriam Gurba and her book, Dahlia Season, after being nominated for two big awards, The Edmund White Award and a LAMBDA Literary Award. We're keeping our fingers crossed for some sweet trophies! Stuff to read!! One of the other Future Tense/Manic D alumni, Eric Spitznagel, has this hilarious piece up at the Big Jewel and this crazy shit at Fray. I got a new fancy pants story myself in the new issue of Yeti. It even has super cool illustrations by Alan Griswold (it's partially about how Internet porn can destroy a precarious relationship). Find this beautiful magazine at a fine bookstore near you. That story and this new flash fiction will be in my new book, Creamy Bullets, which is still slated for April!! I'm reading with Suzanne Burns on April 16th at the Someday Lounge. Details to come. UPDATE: I also have a story that just went up today at Night Train. It's one of my favorites from the past couple of years and it's about a strange family reunion (only partially based on real family events).

That's all I can think of at the moment. Be well.

KS

January 4th, 2008

It's a new year and there's a new book to celebrate too! I'm very excited to unleash the first book of fiction by Suzanne Burns, entitled Double Header. DH is a two-sided "flip book" with two amazing stories. An Acquired Taste and Tiny Ron are prime examples of Burns's unique style--if I had to tag them somehow I might call them Northwest Magical Urban Realism. How's that for a brainfull?
Check it out on the book page or order a copy through the usual sources (Powell's, Amazon, your usual cool indie store). Suzanne has a longer book of stories due out next year from the powerful new Dzanc Books, so I'm excited to give you an early glimpse at her powers. Suzanne and I will be doing a couple of readings together in April. Stay tuned for details. You can also send her a note on her Myspace page.

In Gary Lutz news: His chapbook, Partial List of People to Bleach was honored by Time Out New York as one of their top ten books of 2007, right up there with Bolano, Diaz, and Danticat! We're very flattered by this recognition. You don't see a chapbook on a list like that every day. You can also read great reviews of the collection in the new Rain Taxi, on-line at Small Spiral Notebook, and at The Quarterly Concern.

Myriam Gurba's Dahlia Season has made it onto a few Best of 2007 lists as well. Pride Source, The Q Syndicate and Latinadad and it also was touted highly on Rain Taxi's web site.

And look here! I have new work up at 3am Magazine. Did you ever want to know about my first sexual experience or what those marks on my first girlfriend's photo meant? No?! Well, read the stories anyhow.

I also have new fiction up at the exciting new web site, Mud Luscious. And how many times do I have to say I love goodreads?! Any serious reader should be on this site.

And what would a January update be without my own best-of list? Here are some of my favorites from last year:

CD: The Con by Tegan and Sara
Novel: The Motel Life by Willy Vlautin
Short stories: Hiding Out by Jonathan Messinger (I just wrote this review of it!) and Famous Fathers by Pia Z. Ehrhardt
Surprise small press find: I Was Never Cool by Joseph Musso, jr.
New Lit Journal: [SIC]
Memoir: Jubilee City by Joe Andoe
Poetry: Drunk By Noon by Jennifer L. Knox
Blogger: Ed Champion

Until next time! xoxo
Kevin

October 1st, 2007

It's raved about in the new issues of Bitch and Bust, it's up for awards, and its author is in the new issue of Make/Shift. I'm talking about Dahlia Season by the lovely and talented Myriam Gurba. Here we are on the cusp of fall and people are still talking about our spring release. It's what people in the book business mean when they say a book has legs. Gurba's stories have staying power and her audience gets growing. She just read at the Tongue & Groove at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood and will have more readings later this year and next.

That new Gary Lutz chapbook seems also set to have a long life. People just keep ordering that baby from the web site and for good reason. Whenever I show it to people, I always tell them to take the "sentence test": Just open up to any random sentence and I guarantee a blown mind in record time. It was recently written about in Time Out New York and even reviewed in an Omaha newspaper of all places! Middle America: are you really ready? As for readings, Gary is busy teaching for the next few months, but he will be appearing with Deb Olin Unferth at Rust Belt Books in Buffalo on November 1st at 7pm. Others will follow but you may have to patient. I'm trying to get him to the northwest for his spring break or summer break of '08. It'll be worth the wait.

Elizabeth Ellen also continues to make waves. She has a second book, from Rose Metal Press this time, due out in January 2008. If her newest story on Juked is any indication, it's going to be a powerhouse.

We love it when other presses pick up on our authors, by the way. Karl Koweski, author of the chapbook Playthings, has a new one out, this time a revealing collection of poems on Sunny Outside. I highly recommend it.

I've been trying to stay busy myself. While I put the finishing touches on my next book, Creamy Bullets (early 2008, Chiasmus Press), I have a goofy fictional letter in the new Clackamas Literary Review and new stories on ASAP! I also reviewed the great Jeff Parker novel recently for the Oregonian.

That's about it for now, friends. Talk to you later.

Kevin

*******************************

June 23rd, 2007 (a quickee bag of links)

It's only been a week since our last update, but all sorts of cool stuff has popped up the past few days. Here are the link-o-rama!

*First off, Myriam Gurba graced the cover of the San Francisco Bay Guardian Literary Supplement and was interviewed by Michelle Tea inside. Catch her at Bookpeople in Austin this Tuesday night.

*The Gary Lutz book is flying out of our office with a steady flood of orders from eager fans. Derek White talks about his reaction to the book here.

*I want to send a special thanks to Joseph Reed from Caketrain for helping me figure out the odd glitches that were infecting my web site. Thanks, Joseph. Your magazine kicks butt! And your generous tips will help me update this site more often (and more confidently).

*The Haiku Inferno book is getting some nifty attention in preperation for our June 30th book release party.

*Mike Daily's innovative novel (Alarm) was written up in the Willamette Week and the Oregonian.

*Mike Topp has a new book out with Unbearable Books called Shorts Are Wrong. I'm sure it'll be another crowd pleaser from the New York literary maverick.

*Check this out: I wrote about my favorite novel of the year so far and its author here at ASAP. Go, Willy!

*Future Tense's "editorial assistant" Barb Klansnic (AKA Haiku Inferno's Frayn Masters) has a hilarious interview with Dan Kennedy at the Helio Magazine web site.

Thanks for reading,

Kevin

**********************************

June 15th, 2007 (from the desk of Kevin Sampsell)

Back in early 1998, I was just a couple months into my job at Powell's when I discovered an alluring and mysterious hardcover book of short fictions called Stories in the Worst Way by Gary Lutz. I had recently read a story by Lutz in a journal called Story Quarterly and was really struck by it. Lutz's full collection did not disappoint. In fact, I can only think of a few writers who are so utterly unique (Ben Marcus, Derek McCormack, and Mark Leyner perhaps). At that point, the hardcover had been out for almost two years and when I looked up the paperback release date, I didn't find one. It was bound for obscurity. But in the next couple of years, I found out that there were other writers and readers who were also fans of this mysterious author from Pennsylvania. Eventually, in 2001, SITWW came out in paperback from 3rd Bed, a small press and literary journal. A couple of years ago, another collection, the denser and more sexual I Looked Alive, came out. People were starting to discover his work. I had emailed with him a few times early on and told him I'd be excited to publish a chapbook by him. I didn't really think he'd take me up on it even when he said he very much wanted to. I was pleased and shocked when he actually send me stories for it a few months ago. Not only newer stories but also some reworked older stories that he had written under a pen name, Lee Stone.

So, I'm very pleased to announce the publication of the new Gary Lutz chapbook, Partial List of People to Bleach. It's a 56-page amazement with a stunning cover by Derek White, the great designer, editor, and publisher of Sleepingfish Magazine and Calamari Press. The book's elegant layout was done by Abbey Gaterud, our trusty friend and designer-for-hire. Putting out this book is like a dream come true for me. I seriously consider Gary to be my absolute favorite writer and one that will go down in literary history as one of this era's finest stylists. His work has been praised by several of my favorite writers (Diane Williams, Sam Lipsyte, Brian Evenson), he is the only writer I can think of that has been written about twice in The Believer, he's one of the best-selling small press authors at Powell's, and he was the subject of two essays in the 2007 edition of Noon. The first reading for this book will be July 1 at 6:30 p.m., with Deb Olin Unferth, at Magnetic Field in Brooklyn (97 Atlantic Avenue). Stay tuned for more reading dates and other news on this exciting release.

In other news, congrats to Elizabeth Ellen, who was nominated twice for a StorySouth Million Writers Award. Also, she has a new story up at Storyglossia.

There's also lots of big things happening for Myriam Gurba and her awesome FT/Manic D book, Dahlia Season. Venus Zine gives it praise, The Advocate gave it props, and more reviews keep rolling in as people discover her superb writing. She's also interviewed on La Bloga. And you can keep up with all of Myriam's crazy driving tour at her Myspace page.

Future Tense friend and expert in "Sampselliana," Mike Daily, has his long-awaited new novel out now. Alarm is about a number of things. 9/11, struggling in a relationship, moving to Portland, and writing letters (there are a number of actual letters from me in this enticing little book). It also comes with two CDs of Daily performing the various chapters with musical backing. Pretty dang cool. He's reading at Powell's on Monday, June 25th at 7:30pm. Should be exciting!

Haiku Inferno (myself along with Frank D'Andrea, Elizabeth Miller, and Frayn Masters) is happy to present our first collection, now available at Powell's. We're having a book release party at Tour De Crepes on Saturday, June 30th at 8pm. Pete McCracken from Crack Press will be there to show off this awesome chapbook that he designed, printed, and sewed in his own studio. Please come by to enjoy some haiku and crepes. It's all ages but you can drink. It's a beautiful open air venue and perfect for a summer reading.

Finally, for new work of mine, support Amnesty International and buy Flash, a sweet new anthology of micro-fiction that includes numerous great writers such as Katherine Dunn, Willy Vlautin, Aimee Bender, Jackie Corley, J. Robert Lennon, Steve Almond, and many others. It was published in the UK and is only available at a few places here in the states. Also, you can read my new AP story on one of my favorite Portland writers, Monica Drake, and her struglles to get her novel, Clown Girl, published.

That's all for now, folks.

KS